Cooking with Tinapa

Tinapa(smoked fish)

Tinapa (smoked fish) is served with tomatoes in a Filipino home.
We usually have it at breakfast with fried rice. It is also cooked
with vegetables. One dish I love with tinapa is Ginataang Puso ng
Saging (Banana Heart/Bud in Coconut Milk).

Ginataang Puso ng Saging

1 big puso ng saging (banana heart/bud)
3-4 pcs tinapa
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup thin coconut milk
1/3 cup vinegar
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper

Remove all the red layers from puso ng saging until a yellowish core
is left. Sliced thinly and soaked in salted water (this is to prevent
darkening of the bud). Squeezed out water from the bud and place
in a saucepan. Add tinapa, thin coconut milk, vinegar, crushed garlic
and onions. Bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Add coconut
cream and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

Check out also my sister's Banana Heart Burger.

Tinolang Pata

It had been raining lately and we were craving for some Tinola Soup
at home. Tinola is usually cooked with chicken, green papaya
and sili leaves. We didn't have chicken that time so Dad used
pork Pata (Hock). He also used Malunggay leaves (it was waving
outside the kitchen window, waiting to be picked) and sayote which
he picked that morning (see January Harvest).


Tinolang Pata

3/4 kilo pork pata (pork hock)
1 thumb-sized pc of ginger
1 onion, sliced
3 medium sized sayote (chayote)
1/2 cup Malunggay leaves
1 Tbsp patis (fish sauce)
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp cooking oil
about 5 cups water

Saw cut pork pata crosswise at 1 1/2" thick slices. Peel ginger
and sliced thinly. In a large casserole, saute ginger until fragrant.
Add onion slices and cooked until limp. Add patis and pork pata.
Stir until meat is no longer pink on all sides. Season with pepper.
Pour water and bring to a boil. Simmer until meat is tender,
about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel sayote and cut half lengthwise. Remove the white
core and cut into wedges. When meat is tender, add sayote.
Adjust seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer until sayote is cooked.
Place Malunggay leaves on top but do not cover. Cook for 5 more
minutes. Serve hot.



I am submitting this to Andrea who is
hosting Grow Your Own Roundup #25.

Yummy Treats

Thanks to Yummy Magazine for the nice prizes we got in their Yummy Treats Promo. I was lucky to win twice.

Mom won an 18-inch Masterclass saucepan (July 2008)

Krispy Kreme gift certificates for me (July 2008)

and Gift Pack from AVON (December 2008)

January Harvest

sayote or chayote

singkamas or Jicama